


Upon Return

by milkiforov



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Caring Keith (Voltron), First Kiss, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), I’m sorry, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), broganes, i didn’t mean to make her so rude, mean pidge, she genuinely didn’t realise it was that bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27900673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkiforov/pseuds/milkiforov
Summary: Keith has just returned from a year long exchange in Japan with his brother, Shiro. Overwhelmed by the drastic change and workload, he distanced himself from his friends back home but on his arrival back he notices Lance is... different. So why is no one acknowledging it?
Relationships: Keith & Shiro (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 169





	Upon Return

**Author's Note:**

> hi! this is my first fic i’ve written so please be gentle :)  
> sorry i made pidge so mean btw i promise i don’t hate her at all, she’s just the easiest to appear mean / rude (she also had no idea that she was upsetting him so much in her mind it was all good fun)  
> anyway thanks for reading if you did!

“Christ, I almost forgot how hot it was over here.” 

Keith complained, covering his forehead with his arm as he stepped off of the plane and made his way back into the airport, his brother Shiro by his side. His black shirt was already beginning to stick to him, he peeled the material off of his back with a grimace.

“I guess we got a little too used to rainy season in Japan, huh?” Shiro chuckled as they waited for their luggage at the conveyer belt. “At least we’ll finally see everyone again though, the time difference was driving me mad.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Keith murmured, barely paying attention as he dragged his heavy suitcase off of the belt and onto the floor next to his feet, Shiro mirroring his actions. Shiro chuckled at the sight of his brother, half asleep and moody from the heat. They walked side by side to the exit and into the car park where Hunk’s mini van was waiting outside for them.

After spending a year studying abroad in Japan, Shiro and Keith were finally back home in California ready to continue their studies in Garrison University with their friends. Heading towards the van where Hunk and Pidge were hanging out the windows waving with huge grins plastered on their faces, Keith felt apprehension bubble up inside him. He knew that he barely stayed in touch with his friends on his trip, unlike Shiro who regularly texted and called his friends though mainly his boyfriend Adam who stayed back home. 

It’s not like he /purposely/ distanced himself, he tried his best for the first few months: responding to texts, answering calls, he even sent the first texts a few times! But as the weeks continued, the stress of school, mixed with being in a foreign country where he knew little of the language built up and he eventually became too exhausted to even /think/ about replying to his friends sometimes.

However right then, being face to face with them, Keith felt himself begin to regret how he treated his friends - the past nine months of radio silence making him feel like a complete-

“Stranger! Who the hell are you? You remind me of my old friend Keith, before he passed away a few months ago, that is.” 

Pidge’s voice rang out as she jumped out the car and ran up to Keith, looking up at him curiously as if she was inspecting him. A sheepish look came across Keith’s face as he chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. Suddenly he felt a huge pair of arms enveloping him, punching the air out of his lungs in an instant.

“Keith! Buddy, where have you been? We missed you so much, man, I thought we had done something to upset you!” Hunk rambled. Keith never realised just how much he missed his friendly voice.

“Hunk...can’t...breathe..”

“Oh, sorry buddy. Seriously though, how are you? I feel like we haven’t talked in years!” 

Hunk released him and stepped back a bit, moving next to Pidge as Keith regained his breathe.

“I’m, uh, good! Sorry, I uh, got a bit caught up with work. It’s a little harder in another language after all.” Keith explained. He saw a figure move from behind Hunk’s shoulder and moved onto the tips of his toes only to be met with the sight of Lance stood there. He looked... different from what Keith remembered. A blush rose on Lance’s cheeks as their eyes met, dropping his head back down and messing with his hands. Keith’s eyebrows furrowed as he tried to understand Lance’s actions, wasn’t Lance always more...just MORE? 

Keith couldn’t keep his eyes off of Lance throughout the whole ride back to his and Shiro’s apartment, he was barely able to concentrate on the conversations about their year away, his mind stuck on how different Lance seemed. He seemed smaller, and nervous like he was scared to join in - he only made a few interactions with the group, laughing where needed and responding with short, polite answers when he was addressed which wasn’t very often. Keith remembered him being more involved and excited, he remembered him being happy. This wasn’t happy. 

No one seemed to notice his strange behaviour, leaving Keith feeling unsure on whether to bring it up. Who was he to come back after nine months of radio silence to immediately start questioning the group? His paid more attention the others for the rest of the ride, but his eyes couldn’t seem to stop drifting over to Lance staring out the window.

————

After unpacking all their belongings in their shared apartment, Shiro and Keith collapsed onto the couch side by side, both exhausted from the long flight and tedious unpacking. Shiro turned his head to face Keith,

“You want to order Chinese?”

“God, please” Keith groaned out in response, Shiro releases a huff of a laugh at his desperate response. He grabbed his phone off of the coffee table and started making the order online. Keith looked up at the ceiling as he thought about the days events with a small smile on his face, he was glad his friends weren’t too mad at him for how he treated them when he was away - he had to admit it was fun to see them again after going so long without their stupid antics. His mood dampened as he thought about how Lance was acting again. Before he left, he and Lance were getting closer as friends, a mutual trust growing between them as their hateful fighting gradually turned to friendly bickering. Keith knew he should’ve at least stayed in touch with Lance out of anyone, he just couldn’t bring himself to start a conversation after knowing he left all of that behind. He used to stare at Lance’s texts with anxiety filling his body, terrified Lance would be disappointed in him for leaving them all. He wished more than anything to take how he treated Lance then back, to treat him with the respect he deserves instead of just throwing him away. Keith sat up abruptly,

“Hey Shiro?”

“Hmm?”

“Was- Did you think- did you think Lance was acting weird today? When we were all in the car?” Keith stammered. He watched as Shiro looked away from his phone, a perplexed look painted on his face,

“No, he seemed pretty normal to me. A bit quiet maybe? He could’ve just been tired though it was pretty early in the morning, they would’ve had to get up early to come get us from the airport.” Shiro remarked, turning back to his phone before a sly smile grew on his face.

“Why’re you asking? You just couldn’t keep your eyes off of him?”

“W-what? No! No, of course not, what the hell Shiro?” Keith shouted, a deep red flush moved up his cheeks and painting the tips of his ears. Shiro burst out laughing, urging Keith to punch his shoulder in a desperate attempt to shut him up. Back when they first arrived at Garrison University two years ago, when they first met Lance and their other friends, Keith may have had a tiny, absolutely minute liking for Lance. That was, of course, before he opened his mouth declaring a rivalry between the two of them (which Keith was /still/ confused about). Unfortunately for him, Shiro never seemed to forget and /never/ missed an opportunity to tease him about it.

“Seriously though, he seemed... different, you know he wasn’t acting like I remember him to. It was like he never had an off button, even when he was tired.” Keith argued, deciding to ignore Shiro’s laughter. Shiro’s laughter died down and he turned back to Keith with a raised eyebrow,

“I’m sure he was fine Keith, maybe he was just being dramatic you know how he was. Now come on, we should probably unpack our kitchen before the food comes.” Shiro tried to reason before picking himself off of the couch and into the kitchen, dropping the subject.

“Yeah...I’m coming.”

The way Shiro brushed off the topic left a foul taste in Keith’s mouth. Was he over-thinking this? Keith hadn’t seen him in a year, hadn’t talked to him in over nine months, maybe Shiro was right. Keith shook all worries out his head as he made his way to their tiny kitchen to help Shiro, sure that Lance was just fine.

“You know they’re holding us a welcome home party tomorrow, don’t you Keith?” 

Keith groaned.

————

“Are you sure they’ll notice if I don’t go?” Keith asked, eyeing his outfit in the body length mirror leant against his wall with a scowl on his face.

“Keith for the last time - Yes they will notice if you don’t turn up to the party that they’re throwing for /you/“ Shiro replied, he’d been dealing with the excuses not to go from Keith all day despite the party really only being a small gathering of their closest friends.

“Besides we haven’t seen them in a year! This’ll be a good opportunity for you to get back in touch with them, you know reconnect with them again.” Shiro reasoned as he shrugged on his jacket and grabbed his keys.

“Ugh, fine let’s just get this over with.” Keith grumbled as he walked past Shiro and out their apartment. 

“Drama queen” Shiro rolled his eyes as he locked up and followed Keith to the elevator.

————

Upon entry of Hunk, Pidge and Lance’s shared apartment, Keith and Shiro were immediately welcomed with a deafening,

“Welcome home!” 

Keith froze for a second, not expecting such a loud welcoming. He could see that there were way more people than he expected, the living almost full to the brim with people from their university - most he hadn’t even seen before.

“Uh, thanks. Who are all these people? I thought it was just a small get together.” Keith replied, looking towards to Hunk. Hunk rubbed his neck, looking away sheepishly.

“Yeah, we may have all gone a bit overboard in inviting some people? We didn’t intend to let it get this out of hand, sorry! Oh, and you don’t like big groups of people do you? Oh man, Keith I’m so sorry! This was meant to be a fun welcome home party for you and we ruined it, I’m so sor-“

“Hunk! It-it’s fine buddy, I promise. Just a little unexpected, I’ll be okay.” Keith put his hand on Hunk’s shoulder awkwardly, in an attempt to calm him down. Yeah, he wasn’t too thrilled about spending the night in a cramped tiny apartment with strangers but he wasn’t cruel enough to let Hunk think he ruined his night. 

A small smile once again appeared on Hunk’s face. Before Keith even knew what was happening, Hunk had dragged him over to the kitchen area where Pidge, Lance and Shiro were. The trio looked up at the sudden noise and Keith was immediately drawn to Lance. He suddenly found it hard to breathe. The blue-eyed boy was decked out in his party get-up and Keith found it was hard to look away. He wore loose fitting lighter jeans with a thin leather belt and some black high top boots as well a darker blue shirt, unbuttoned, over the top of a revealing loose fitted tank. His hair was the perfect balance between messy and attractive.   
“Uh, Keith? You okay, buddy?”

Lance’s voice rang out through the kitchen, slightly louder to allow him to be heard over the music playing in the next room. His voice shook Keith out of the spell he was and he finally registered everyone staring at him - he chose to ignore Shiro laughing into his drink. Keith turned back to face Lance, noticing the cute, pink blush dusted over his cheeks. 

“Yeah. Yeah I’m...good.” Keith replied. Shiro cackled in response.

“Oh, he’s /more/ than good.” Keith whipped around to glare at Shiro, flipping him off in the process. He moved further into the kitchen to grab himself a cup, purposely bumping harshly into Shiro on the way. 

Keith leant back against the counter as he took a long sip from his cup. Parties were not his preferred method of socialising. He was grateful his friends cared so much as to put so much effort into a party for their return, but he would’ve preferred just a quiet night in with them so much more. Parties usually consist of too many people, sweat, and waking up with a hangover and Keith would much rather just not take part at all. Outside of his own pity-party he was hosting in his head, he heard the group laugh but he couldn’t help but notice that Lance wasn’t joining in. Instead he was staring into the bottom of his cup, an unconvincing smile on his lips.

“What’s so funny?” Keith asked, leaning further towards the group. 

“Oh, we were just catching Shiro up on some of the dumb shit Lance pulled this year whilst you two were gone. It was priceless really.” Pidge began to say. Keith felt a frown forming. 

Lance’s previously weak smile had completely disappeared from his face once Pidge started talking. He looked up at her,

“It wasn’t that bad, I just-” He tried to argue. Pidge laughed back in his face, Hunk giggled from his position next to Lance.

“Lance, you weren’t even close to giving the right answer. You were completely off topic!” Pidge replied back. Keith felt himself frown further - they were laughing at him giving the wrong answer? Why were they making it such a big deal that he got it wrong? Pidge turned back to Shiro and Keith to continue.

Lance frowned. The hurt in his eyes was clear, Keith thought. He watched as Lance shrunk into himself and focused his attention back onto his drink, swirling it around in his cup. What the hell was that? They didn’t even hear him out at all, just blatantly disregarded what he was saying. He looked between Shiro and Hunk, seeing if either of them noticed what just happened however they were both still engaged in conversation, as if nothing had even happened. 

“There was also the time with the new TA, remember?” Hunk spoke up. Keith watched as Lance tensed up and Pidge immediately let out another laugh before rushing into the story.

“Oh my god, the TA story! How could I forget?” Pidge laughed, “So we got a new TA in one of our classes, this pretty girl called Florona - way out of Lances league.” Lance snapped his head up,

“Hey! She wasn’t-“

“Anyway, Lance immediately started using his stupid pick up lines on her. It was futile from the beginning of course but the look on his face when she turned around and threw her water all over him! In front of everyone!” Hunk and Pidge burst into laughter, Shiro looking amused beside them as he took another sip of his drink. 

“I need to get some air, I’ll be right back.” Lance mumbled, placing his cup on the counter and heading though the lounge to his room. Pidge paid little attention to him, waving him off slightly before focusing back on Shiro. Hunk at least had the decency to at least give him a half-assed,

“Feel better soon, buddy.” 

Keith watched as the duo just got back into the conversation as if nothing even happened.

“Is he okay? He got outta here pretty quick.” Shiro asked, beside him. Keith turned away from where he followed Lance walking off and focused back on Pidge.

“Yeah, he’s fine. He just does that when he gets embarrassed, he’ll get over it soon enough, he usually does anyway.” She replied. Keith felt anger bubbling up inside him. 

What happened when he was gone? Why were they just stood there blatantly making fun of him when he was so clearly uncomfortable? Is this why Lance was so quiet and withdrawn?

“Don’t you think it was a little rude to be making fun of him and embarrassing him in front of us?” Keith found himself asking her, he didn’t even attempt to keep the harshness out of his voice. Pidge scoffed in return and Keith felt his frown deepen.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad! We were just catching you up on some classic Lance, he was just being a drama queen is all.” Keith swore he almost saw red.

“A drama queen? He was clearly uncomfortable! You shouldn’t be embarrassing your friend for shits and giggles Pidge, how often have you made him leave?” His voice started to rise.

“Hey, I don’t make him do anything! He’s the one who pulled all his stupid antics! He’s just being dramatic, he knows there’s no harm behind it!” Pidge’s voice started mirroring Keiths. Hunk began to look nervous,

“Guys, come on there’s no need to shout we can-“ Hunk started before Keith interrupted him, not even registering what was being said.

“What other choice does he have but to leave when his so-called friend uses him as some shitty comic relief?! How is it dramatic to not want to sit there and be ridiculed and embarrassed by your friend for others entertainment?” Keith yelled back in her face. Pidge stepped backwards in surprise,

“I-I wasn’t-“ Her voice was lowered, refusing to make eye contact.

“Weren’t you? I’m going to go check on Lance.” Keith pushed passed her into the lounge. He turned around, “Don’t try follow me. Maybe try think of an apology before you try talk to him again.” 

Keith all but stomped his way to Lance’s room. He pushed his way through the crowd of people, not thinking twice about any one of them. All he could think of was Lance, and how he had been treated whilst he was away. When he was outside Lance’s room he didn’t hesitate to walk straight in like he used to. 

Lance was sitting on the edge of his bed, staring at nothing, with his comforter wrapped around his shoulders. His head whipped up at the sound of his door opening, eyes widening at the sight of Keith in his doorway.

“Keith! What, uh, what are you doing in here? Did you need something?” Lance asked in surprise, a fake smile plastered on his face. Keith made his way over to Lance’s bed, shutting the door behind him and taking a seat on Lance’s right.

“I thought I told you before not to smile like that in front of me. What happened in there, that wasn’t okay... are you okay?” Keith said, softly. He was referencing the last time they were like this. Over a year ago, not long before Keith was going on his exchange, they found themselves in an almost identical position.

***  
(start flashback)

Keith was sat on the right of Lance, both of them sitting on the edge of his bed. Shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh.   
“What’s wrong, Lance“ Keith asked softly. The blue-eyed boy had been withdrawn the past couple of days, spending more time in his room, only coming out for food and the bathroom and plastering unconvincing smiles to everyone. 

“Nothing! I promise, really, I’ve just been tired is all.” Lance cast a weak smile in Keith’s direction.

“Don’t smile like that in front of me, Lance. I know something is wrong, please let me help.” Keith somehow moved closer, impossibly close. He felt Lance fall pliant, leaning on Keith’s shoulder as he deflated and sighed - Keith didn’t fail to notice the fake smile was no longer there.

“It’s mamá’s birthday next week. I can’t afford to get a flight back to Cuba, with exams and all. Even if I didn’t have exams, I wouldn’t be able to afford going back. This is the first year I won’t be spending her birthday with her - I’m the only one who’s not going to be there.” Lance revealed. He hid his face in Keith’s neck to hide his obvious sniffles.

Keith automatically wrapped his arm around Lance’s shoulders on instinct, supporting his weight. He sighed and held Lance closer, tighter to his body.

“That doesn’t make you a bad son, Lance. Your family knew when you came here for uni there was going to be occasions where you couldn’t make it - it doesn’t make it any less hard, but it doesn’t make you a bad son.” Keith said gently, immediately understanding where Lance’s mind was taking him. 

Lance said nothing, just curled into Keith, his fingers gripping the other boys t-shirt a little harder. Keith rubbed his hand up and down the crying boys arm.

“I promise I’ll get you to them next year, I promise.” Keith whispered into his ear, tucking the boy somehow closer to him.  
(end flashback)  
***

Lance’s smile dropped and was immediately replaced with a glare before he went back to facing the wall.

“Oh, what do you care?” Lance muttered out harshly. Keith’s eyes widened at the boys harsh tone. He was taken aback by the bluntness of the comment.

“What did you say?” Keith tried and failed to mask the hurt in his voice. Lance let out a cynical laugh before turning to face him again.

“I said ‘what do you care’. You don’t care about me, you can give up this stupid act right now! I don’t wanna hear it!” Lance all but yelled at Keith. Keith shuffled back and stared at the boy next to him. The silence between them was deafening, all that could be heard was the muffled pounding beat of the god awful party music in the other room. 

“You can’t seriously think I don’t care about you right? Where did you get that idea?” Keith asked quietly. The hurt was evident in his voice, in the way he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with the ocean blue eyes he grew to love - wait, what?

“Oh don’t act so dumb. You left! You got up and left us - left me! What the hell was I supposed to think?” Lance replied. Somehow the lack of yelling made it worse. Keith was taken aback, becoming defensive.

“I went on exchange Lance! You knew why I had to go, you knew how it important it was to Shiro and I that we go. How can you be mad at me for doing that?” Keith asked, a little harshly.

“That wasn’t the problem!” Lance snapped back, purposely refusing to look at him.

“Then what was?!” Keith felt like he was about to burst, why could Lance possibly be so mad at him, to think that he didn’t even care about him?

“You left me! I don’t care that you went away, but you left me! You stopped talking to me completely, you always declined my calls and left my texts for days until you just stopped talking to me at all. You completely left me, you /asshole/!” Lance cried out, finally turning to face Keith. His eyes were red and brimming with tears. Keith felt his heart drop to his feet,

“Lance-“ 

“And you didn’t even tell me why, didn’t even tell me what I did wrong! I knew you’d get sick of me it was inevitable, I know I can be annoying, I know I’m too much to deal with but I didn’t think it’d happen so soon. You didn’t even tell me why.” Lance continued, his voice trailing off until it was barely a whisper. The tears had fallen down, streaming down his face leaving wet trails running on his cheeks.

Keith felt... he felt horrific. He knew it wasn’t nice for any of them to suddenly have him fall of the grid and not come back for nine months. He’d overheard their facetime calls with Shiro, all of them asking if he was okay and what happened. But he didn’t even think about how he’d effect Lance. Lance had opened up to him about his insecurities, told him about the number of people who had left him behind, told him he was too much or too annoying until they’d pushed his self esteem so low into the ground it was near impossible to dig up. Keith was- he was just as bad. He spent so long helping Lance to see himself how Keith saw him, just to drop him like so many others. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe. 

Keith impulsively tackled Lance into a bone-crushing hug, both of them falling back onto the lumpy mattress. Keith’s arms wrapped so tight around Lance’s midsection that it was surprising the boy could still breathe.

“Lance. Lance, I am so so so sorry. It wasn’t you, I promise you that it wasn’t your fault, it could never be your fault.” Keith explained into Lance’s ear. He could hear Lance’s sobs, could feel his shirt getting soggy and he knew Lance didn’t believe him. Keith picked them both back up, placing Lance almost so he was sat on his lap and cupped his cheek with his hands.

“You need to understand, Lance - it wasn’t your fault. I was so overwhelmed there for so long. Japan was- it was a lot more than I was expecting. It was such a drastic change that no amount of preparation could’ve prepared me for, I couldn’t speak the language well enough for such a long time and I was struggling with all the work and I was so overwhelmed that I just... dropped off. It’s no excuse and I am so sorry. There are no words I could possibly say to show you how sorry I truly am, Lance.” Keith explained, keeping eye-contact with Lance and holding him close. 

Lance’s face twisted and he threw himself onto Keith, sobs wracking is body. Keith caught him effortlessly, dragging him closer to him and wrapping his arms around him in an attempt to soothe him. 

“It’s been hell Keith, it’s been so, so bad and you weren’t there and there was nothing I could do!” Lance choked out between sobs, “Pidge got- she got so mean and I tried to tell her to stop and she wouldn’t and Hunk hardly helped, he thought it was funny. My grades started to go down. and she would help but it was so awful! I know I’m dumb and I know she probably didn’t mean anything by it but she wouldn’t stop and - and it’s just been so horrible. And you stopped talking to me so I was alone!” 

“I’m so sorry, Lance. I’m sorry. I’m here now, I won’t leave you again I’m so, so sorry.” Keith gently took Lance’s chin and angled him to look at him, “But you are not dumb nor did you deserve any of how you’ve been treated. Lance you are so intelligent and not only in your classes but in every way. You are so creative and innovating and inspiring. You’re caring and calming and sweet. You always have my back and I know you have everyone else’s too. You are so much more than you think, Lance and... and I love you so much. More than you could ever know.” 

Keith’s heart was pounding as Lance stared at him wide eyed, his long fingers still scrunching Keth’s t-shirt, no doubt stretching it beyond repair - not that Keith cared. He couldn’t believe he. admitted it to Lance, and before he even admitted it to himself. After a few moments of silence, Keith spoke up,

“Look, you don’t have to say it back. I don’t expect anything in return from you, I just needed you to -mmf!”

Lance’s threw himself forward, slotting their lips together in a chaste, but passion-filled kiss. He pulled back an inch and rested his forehead against Keith’s. They stared into each other’s eyes.

“What- you- I- You like me back?” Keith stammered in surprise. Lance let out a small giggle as he held onto Keith’s hand.

“I thought it was obvious, all of the others knew before you left.” Lance explained, a small smile - a real one - on his lips.

“Hold on- all of them?” Keith choked out. He was going to kill Shiro. Lance let out another little chuckle.

“Yep. Of course I like you back, but,” Lance hit his fists against Keith’s chest in beat, “Don’t. Ever. Do. That. To. Me. Again!” Lance threatened. Keith slotted their lips together again, pulling Lance closer to him and weaving his hands through his brown locks before pulling away and smiling.

“Never again. I promise.” 

Not everything was solved. They still needed to have a deep, long talk and Keith was going to force an apology out of Hunk and Pidge if he had to but in that moment, they were okay. They were wrapped in each other’s arms, and they were okay.


End file.
